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x1900xt dilema

Z

Zap [PCGO]

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 2, 2003
Messages
385
Well, so I'm offered an x1900xt for 375 shipped from a friend who works at circuit city as I have already described earlier in the week.

Well, I thought about it and since i'm on a budget, I might wanna see what you guys think of my options are... Right now, I have 1GB of ram, no sound card, and the power supply of the q-pack.

So either I get the near 400 bux video card or get a weaker video card and upgrade the other compoments...

Since this is a video card forum, the question I really want to ask is related to those. I have been hearing a lot about DX10 and the next wave of video card that is to hit soon. I mean the general video card cycle is 6 months right? The top end video cards were released sometime in January... well, we're closing in on June now.

What I don't know is when DX10 will be released and will the next gen vid cards be DX10 compatible. I would really hate to shell out 400 for a video card that will have its replacement brought to market in roughly over a month or two. Thus, my dilema right now. I mean, it's not like a DX9 to a DX9 card where it may only differ in clock speed and pipelines.

I'm currently leaning toward buying an adequate video card now and live til the next wave of DX10 video card. Is this even a wise choice? I've been ripping my hair out trying to solve this dilema haha.... good deal on current top card or save and get other component upgrades.

So lets say I decide to get an adequate video card. I'm looking into playing games like FEAR, HL2, CSS, Oblivion, and games of the likes on an LCD at 1280x1024. I'm hoping to run high settings or medium settings on these with at least 2x AA and still pull at least 35 fps. Does any video card in the range of 100-200 exist that will do that?(idealy in the 150 range)

I have done many readings, but with all honesty, i took them all with a grain of salt.... and I still would like to hear from actual users.

Given that I only got 375 to spend.(kinda tight on budget after this new build) How would you guys most wisely use it?

Thanks in advance.
 
I'd get an x1800xt. the 256mb version is about $270 and the 512mb version is about $300. these cards are the second best from ATI and not much worse than the x1900.
then I'd take the leftover money and buy a good power supply because the Q-pack power supply is not the greatest piece of hardware and most definately will not work well with a top of the line video card.

I recommend this power supply, I personally have had it for like 6 months and I love it, and I just transplanted it to a Q-pack. it has dual 12v rails @20amps each, its sli certified, its modular, and has a giant 135mm fan on the bottom of it that silently sucks are out of your case. definately good for a Q-pack. it fits as long as you have a shorter optical drive, like a lite-on dvd burner or the LG dvd burner (I have the LG).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817181108

there is also a 600w version of that same power supply if you really want that much power. but you don't and won't need it. but here it is just in case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817181109
 
dont worry about dx10. your vid card will work. you may want to check out the 7900gt. the simple volt mod (no soldering and easily reversible) turns it a monster. my cards run at 660/1920, which is 110/340 over a default superclock, and 260/550 over a default gt, using the stock cooling. separately, one or both of the cards prob runs at even higher clocks.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
dont worry about dx10. your vid card will work. you may want to check out the 7900gt. the simple volt mod (no soldering and easily reversible) turns it a monster. my cards run at 660/1920, which is 110/340 over a default superclock, and 260/550 over a default gt, using the stock cooling. separately, one or both of the cards prob runs at even higher clocks.
Click to expand...

Well that's nice and all... but an x1800XT can easilly achieve HIGHER results with teh usa of a Software Voltage change. That's right you can up the voltage using software. Also with the x1800XT you get 512MB of memory, AVIVO, Transcoding and Encoding, high quality AF, The ability to use both AA and AF with a lower performance hit and not having to purchase a cooler seperate from the stock cooler to overclock.

Did I also mention the fact that the x1800XT could be used as a stand alone Physics accelerator once you upgrade later down the road? Yes, ATi's implementation of a Branching unit on all x1600 and higher cards makes this possible. This means you can have a highend card dedicated to graphics and a card from the x1K generation dedicated to physics. This solution will be fully compatible with teh Havok engine as well as an ATi implementation.
 
you know NVIDIA is offering physics as well...plus, the X1800XT is really loud, the 7900GT is by no means quiet though

HDR+AA is good, HQAF is really nice

I doubt a x1800xt could overclock to near 900MHZ on a stock cooler, which is what you are implying by saing it can overclock more with the software adjustments (which is handy, i agree)

Price for price, at stock the X1800XT is a better bang for the buck, but it is all preference
 
chinesepiratefood said:
you know NVIDIA is offering physics as well...plus, the X1800XT is really loud, the 7900GT is by no means quiet though

HDR+AA is good, HQAF is really nice

I doubt a x1800xt could overclock to near 900MHZ on a stock cooler, which is what you are implying by saing it can overclock more with the software adjustments (which is handy, i agree)

Price for price, at stock the X1800XT is a better bang for the buck, but it is all preference
Click to expand...

I have yet to see a 7900GT clock to 900Mhz on a stock cooler.

And as for the Physics nVIDIA is offering it to SLI users but the performance boost will be much much smaller then that of an ATi 1600 + card. In fact an x1600 should give a larger physics processing boost then an nVIDIA 7900GTX. Only due to the fact that ATi have a dedicated Branching unit which is what is mainly used by Physics processing. There are tests that show the x1600's branching performance to be almost twice that of a 7800GTX 512MB.
 
thanks for the replies, but the x1800xt is going for 300. that's only 75 less than the x1900xt that i'm offered.

How about the mass of the cards in the range of 100-200? there are so much choices...

I'm looking at newegg and goinf off their prices. Here's what i'm looking at:
ATI SIDE:
x850xt (the saphire for for 165)
x800
x800gt
x800gto
x800gto2 (and i'm really confused about all these x800 version... and wierdly enough, the x800xt costs more than x850xt... anyone can shed some "equivalent" comparison to... say the nvidia counter part for these guys?)
x1600xt
x1600pro

NVIDIA SIDE:
6800xt
6800
6600gt

I just spoted the 7600gt as well. particularly the MSI with prince of persia game.

.... as you can see.. there's a jungle of cards in the range of 100-200.(shooting for <= 200 shipped) And I honestly can't really tell the difference in performance amongst them. Especially ATI vs Nvidia performance of those given cards. And sometimes it confuses me that a card of a later generation would cost less than that of the previous generation.... more pipeline and faster clock speed costs less? o_O

Hoping to get a PSU and a decent soundcard for the remaining 175.
 
I'd swing for the X1600 XT. Should be a very solid card so long as you don't intend to drive everything beyond 1280x1024.

I like Enermax's PSUs these days. I have the SLi-certified 535W UltraWhisper (or whatever it's called). A fine unit I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone who needs this kind of power.

Why do you need a sound card?
 
Ah, thanks for the advice, I'm looking at reviews left and right and they all seem to be around the same ball park. I really won't go over 1280x1024... unless i aquire a 1680x1050 lcd...

As for the sound card. The onboard sound of my TForce 6100-929 gives so much bass... it's ridiculous. I would turn down the bass boost knob on my subwoofer (Altec Lansing 5.1 set) to zero, and it would still have bass over powering everything else. I even had to turn DOWN the bass in the equilizer.... but frankly speaking, either I really suck at tweaking the eq... or the eq distorts sounds... but the audio i'm getting now is unsatisfactory at best. hehe
 
ElMoIsEviL said:
I have yet to see a 7900GT clock to 900Mhz on a stock cooler.

And as for the Physics nVIDIA is offering it to SLI users but the performance boost will be much much smaller then that of an ATi 1600 + card. In fact an x1600 should give a larger physics processing boost then an nVIDIA 7900GTX. Only due to the fact that ATi have a dedicated Branching unit which is what is mainly used by Physics processing. There are tests that show the x1600's branching performance to be almost twice that of a 7800GTX 512MB.
Click to expand...

Actually, any 1 6 series or 7 series card will work but you can think your way if it makes you feel better
 
chinesepiratefood said:
Actually, any 1 6 series or 7 series card will work but you can think your way if it makes you feel better
Click to expand...

Are you talking core or memory?

900MHz core is not believeable with the stock cooler. I've seen only x1800 and x1900's hitting 900MHz+ but with cascade phase change coolers.

900MHZ memory perhaps... but memory bandwidth is hardly what's holding our cards back nowadays. Shader power is.. higher clocks on the core will impact performance in a larger way in newer games then it would on the memory.

Of course if you're still playing Quake3 a memory clock may help more.

Another point.. the stock cooler on a reference 7900GT (most of them with the exception of the Asus TOP lineup) doesn't even cover the memory chips... so I don't get what you intend to prove with your argument? Please explain and show us some links and info.

Oh... I'll post a link.... it took a TRIPLE CASCADE to get a 7900GTX to work at 945MHz on the core.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=219732

DFI LAN Party Venus... AMD FX60 @ 3615MHz... Inno3D 7900GTX @ 945/1040... GSkill GH BH5 RAM... Powered by SilverStone ST75ZF... Cooled by Home-Made Triple Cascade! Details @ http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=66514
Click to expand...
 
the 7600gt is regarded as the most videocard for the dollar right now. don't even consider an nvidia 6**** series or an ATI x800 series over one of these.

the x1800gto is a tad better, and can be had for about the same price with a rebate. and there is a chance to bios flash the HIS and Connect 3d ones to 16 pipes, up from twelve. but its only a chance, some do some don't. I've heard that 1800gto's with six phase power, such as the HIS, have the best chance. to tell if it has six phase power, look at the pics and count the little squares that are ligned up next to the exhaust end of the heatsink.

I really wouldn't get anything less if you are gonna be gaming.

unless you can get the 1800gto for the same price, I'd go for the 7600gt, as it uses less power, and is physically much smaller, which will suit your Q-pack better.

also, a small note regarding the x1800xt's from saphire, saphire just released a new official bios for all of their x1800xt cards that turns them into PE's for free. gives you an extra hundred mhz on the core and on the memory, and it does a permanent .8 voltage increase, which from what i've seen, this bios means about a 4c to 6c increase on the temps, which isn't too shabby. I wasn't able to confirm if the flash was a garuntee, but I think it is. but there are recoverable flashing methods just in case.
 
Ok cool, thanks for the input. Fat chance now I'm gonna land myself that MSI 7600GT. Although, i've seen some nice used cards flying around, so I'll look a little bit more.

I take it that nothing below 7600GT if I'm gonna game at what I described and wait for the next batch of DX10 cards.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about DX10 compatibility as Vista isn't going to be out until sometime next year. Then you have to wait for games to come out that support DX10, which may make the wait a bit longer. I'll bet it's a year and a half before DX10 becomes a huge concern.
 
rgold28 said:
Which one is better?
Click to expand...

depends on which 7900

the 1900xt is better than the 7900gt

the 1900xt and the 7900gtx are meant to be direct competitors, basically its brand/features preference here.
 
200 shipped? I just saw a 7800gt oc for 180 shipped on the forums. Best deal to me with your criteria.
 
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